Impressed by Those Apes!

I saw a show on Monday and I liked it so much, that I want to plug it here. I have not been solicited to give my opinion. This is something that I want to discuss, because I want you to have the pleasure of seeing this show, before it's gone.

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Here's the concept:
Some time in the far future, a scientist has taken apes and made them super-smart. They revolted and took over. (As was detailed in the superb Planet of the Apes movie series.) Well, the apes have come back in time to destroy our world. To give humans a single chance to defend themselves from the apes earthquake machine, they've selected 8 contestants to compete in a talent competition, representing all humanity. Each week, the contestants have one week to come up with material, representing a different challenge.

In week 1, they had to do an original song.
In week 2, they had to do stand-up comedy.

Also, the professor who runs the scoreboard and the host are humans who have been mastered by the apes to run their show for them. They're both really funny. I won't ruin their best bits here, but they don't overstay their welcome or drive their bits to the point of exhaustion.

The pleasure of the show is two-fold. On the one level, there's a very funny sci-fi/comedy thing happening with the actual apes, themselves. One is a sailor. One is the gay monkey. One is the "cool guy". And they play well off of each other. Clearly they're having a blast up there. And more often than not, their jokes hit with the audience, despite the fact that their faces are obscured by their ape masks. Which is not easy to do.

The other pleasure of the show is the AMAZING variety of talent that the eight contestants have. I'd say, without hesitation, that all eight of them "succeeded" in their stand-up routines. I laughed throughout. And sometimes I laughed at things that were supposed to be funny. The stand-up routines were all well-written and/or well-delivered! And the interraction between the host, the apes and the individual contestants was also a lot of fun.

At the end of each show, the contestants points are tallied and they are ranked on a master tote-board. And their scores carry over from week to week. So there's a value to seeing the show multiple times, as the contestants rise and fall on the toteboard. Currently, Erin Carr is the comedy juggernaut of the show. And judging from these two clips, you can see why...

Here's a clip of her Tour-De-Force Original Song. It's WONDERFUL, people. Check it out!



And this is her performance as a Victorian Stand-Up comedianne. Smart concept, sharp execution. (Dig the paper version of the brick wall behind the stand-up comedians. A nice detail!)



By spot-lighting Erin's performances, I don't mean to take away from the fine work of the other contestants. They all busted their butts to come up with original songs, as well. And by the miracle of YouTube, they're all available for your viewing pleasure on the Apes website, http://www.impresstheseapes.com/. Check them out, if you've got a few minutes. They're all a lot of fun!

Watching the show, I never had a feeling of "Man, I REALLY want to be IN this show." Instead, I sat back and enjoyed the visuals and audio jokes that they were laying down, happy to just be watching. I DID want to see other performances of the show, though, to see what the contestants were going to come up with. And I MOST ESPECIALLY wanted to see the final show to see if it was going to be close or to see if Erin Carr is going to bull-doze those guys. (In fact, I'm probably going to have to take that Monday night off from rehearsal to go see how it all ends.) The winner receives $250 cash and a bunch of other shit. Who wouldn't want to see that?

Here's what I reccomend, go see the show sometime soon, to get a sense of what they're doing and then plan to catch the BLOCKBUSTER show finale and see how it all ends. And bring friends. There's still a few seats left open for folks in the back-row. The show I saw had filled the first three rows. Which is a good sign.

Go see this show!
Go see, "Impress These Apes!"
(Next weeks show will be a Dance Off, how could you miss that?)

Cheers,
Mr.B